Colwich Switch

The Colwich Switch was a year-long project where Westar worked with residents in the city of Colwich to help them be more energy efficient.


On Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008, Westar volunteers visited each household in Colwich to deliver six CFL's in varying wattages and ask residents for the participation in a study of the town's energy use.


Throughout the year, Westar Energy periodically provided energy efficiency information to residents, including quarterly reports comparing their household's and the town's electricity use with the same period a year earlier.

Goals of the study

• Statistically validate energy savings by Colwich residents as a result of increased CFL usage.



• A household survey was conducted prior to launching the Colwich Switch project so that residents' baseline energy use could be calculated.



• A similar survey was conducted a year later to determine energy use since the project launch date.



• The statistical difference in energy use after adjusting for changes in weather, electrical, appliances, and household demographics was used to reveal any energy savings that occur from greater CFL use.



• To ensure validity of the results, Westar Energy looked at the energy use of a similar community.

Demographics

• Colwich is a town of about 500 households, 15 minutes northwest of Wichita.



• 420 homes were used for the study, homes where service was changed to a new customer were excluded.



• Because of its size and willingness to participate, Colwich was a prime candidate for this study.

Results

• From September 2008 to August 2009 Colwich residents reduced their energy use by 1.7 percent compared with the prior year.



• Savings averaged out to about 200 kilowatt hours per household, which is like turning a television off for a year.



• Without considering the cooler temperatures during the Colwich Switch, electricity consumption dropped 4.7 percent in Colwich compared with only 0.1 in the town selected for statistical validation.

Photos from The Kick-off and Celebration event

Governor Mark Parkinson's speech at Kick-off Event